Updated Breeding Goals:

Breeding Dogs with Superior Characteristics to Create a New Breed

I once googled my website, and to my surprise one pop-up read, “XANADU is creating a new dog breed!” It’s true—and it’s no secret. We offer Goldendoodles--and all of our puppies are described by the dominant breeds--like Goldendoodle or Labradoodle or AussiePoo or BernerDoodle, Maltipoo, Crestipoo, Doubledoodles and Tripledoodles, Goberians, Pomskies, etc. Unusual breeds are probably in your XANADU pup’s background. Please feel free to ask more, but here are a few of those inclusive breeds and why they are included:

Poodle: shed-free, soft coat, and intelligence/trainability. NOTE: XANADU is careful in the selection of Poodles—and especially miniature Poodles—for breeding. Some are wonderfully friendly, others yappy, barky, and bad-tempered with people they do not know well.

Golden Retriever: Dominant in most XANADU dogs, they are intelligent, people oriented, highly trainable, and beautiful.

Labrador Retriever: Included in few Doodle lineages. Year after year, the Labrador Retriever is the most popular breed in America.

Australian Shepherd/Aussiedoodles: are usually “velcro” dogs; they do not wander like, e.g., Charlie Brown’s Beagle would. Australian Shepherds and Aussiepoos like to stick to you and the family, and purebreds sometimes herd human children. Special features include agility, intelligence, and beauty--blue eyes—and they will fetch as long as you can throw a frisbee.

Crestipoo: amazing intelligence and agility.

Cockerpoo: not often included, but is a breed with remarkable longevity; beauty, wonderful ears. The Cocker Spaniel is one of the three breeds included in the Australian Labradoodle.

Border Collie: superior intelligence, inquisitive and friendly nature, and energy to sustain long days of work. And these dogs, too, will fetch balls and Frisbees all day long. XANADU’S La Flamme is one of XANADU’S sweetest dogs and a very observant student of her humans.

Saluki: The oldest breed in the world, they say (compare to the Arabian Horse in confirmation and breeding intention). These dogs and Pharaoh Hound images are found inside pyramids. The Saluki predates other breeds by over 4,000 years. I have a 12-year old Saluki, and the difference accomplished in last many thousands of years is astonishing. My Saluki (directly from the Middle East and Blue Ribbon honored at the Saluki Nationals) IS friendly with all humans, children, other dogs and livestock. While she is 12, she acts like she is about 3--this is a longevity breed; it is where Habeebte Al Ice's "homing instinct" comes from (not all Salukis "home," but Alice and some of her progeny just don't get lost." Saluki hips are perfect. No doggie odor. A heart like an athlete. Perfect eyes, patella, confirmation, grace--everything. The Saluki was developed over the centuries by severe and what we would call today, cruel selective breeding and culling of litters. This "perfection" is the foundation of XANADU'S breeding program. The sire of XANADU'S foundation is International Champion moyen red Poodle with 100% PennHip ratings/other excellent certifications, Glitz and Glamour.

Contemporary breeders have created new breeds for VERY GOOD reasons--usually temperament and confirmation, sometimes for gorgeous vanity characteristics—the Goldendoodle, and Labradoodle, and Crestipoos, the Sheba Inu, the Norwegian Lundehund, the Xoloitzcuintli, etc., but all of us “creators” must work with breeds that already exist, of course. We choose breeds that have some of the characteristics we hope will be passed along to our puppies. The process can take generations—generations of dogs and generations of humans. XANADU BREEDS FAMILY / COMPANION DOGS.

Not long ago, I watched a National Geographic documentary about the pre-historic and historic relationship of wolves-to-dogs to prehistoric man, and then man-to-dog breeds to today. In the recent few centuries, and especially in Europe, new breeds were developed—often by fancy ladies with the wherewithal to do so—and old breeds tweaked, often to the point that these “purebreds” are a mess: deliberate breedings which caused back and leg problems, breathing problems, whelping problems—it’s a long and (I think) ugly and unhealthy list of characteristics that are a disservice to the individual breeds and to the dog world.

The suggestion (to me) was that if humankind can make such a mess of dog breeds and genetics, humankind can also undo this damage. XANADU is tackling part of this challenge. At this time, I do not know any other breeder anywhere who is doing so—wish I did!

Information about the lineage and the “whys” of a puppy’s lineage are available to you—what your puppy will most likely look like as an adult, his/her size, temperament, and the reasons for inclusion of certain breeds (DoubleDoodles, TrippleDoodles, and above-mentioned purebreds and Doodles, for example) in our breeding program. So, pups in our litters have a smidgen of “something else” in his or her background—something deliberately sought after and passed along (Those characteristics might include some homing instinct, or greater agility, or blue eyes, no-doggie-odor, etc.). XANADU is not trying to improve the Poodle breed, the Golden Retriever, the Labrador Retriever, the Maltese, the Chinese Crested, etc. These are already outstanding breeds.

Xanadu Breeding Goals

Our Primary Objective is the development of a new breed, the XANADU, the World’s Best Family Dog. Toward that end, the goals for which we breed are enumerated below. Lineages displaying most (sometimes ALL) of these characteristics are woven together year after year toward our objective. This contains the information necessary for you to decide if a XANADU puppy is for you.

If you determine that the XANADU Dog is not the dog for you, you can move along to breeders who breed for different characteristics. The XANADU document, "How to Select a Puppy" will be helpful to you in choosing a breeder.

FIRST and foremost, XANADU breeds for TEMPERAMENT - Our pups and dogs are friendly with family members and may also be very friendly with strangers; they are safe for children to play with. For example, the Goberian and Bordoodle puppies do not chew on people/children (much) when they are little pups; other breeds seem to have this issue until they mature or are taught not to chew. While these two hybrids noted here were selected for inclusion in the XANADU breeding program for many other reasons, these tendencies have been a surprising, happy discovery--and good news for new pup owners. Puppy-training and the natural tendencies of our hybrids and multigenerational lineages is a work-in-progress, of course. Some lineages are naturally less chewy; others need more instruction about appropriate behavior. If you are a puppy, oh! there is so much to learn! All puppies will need to be taught not to jump up on people. Children and many adults are vulnerable to being knocked down by pups or adult dogs that have not been well trained.XANADU pups do not have big anger issues or short fuses, and seldom get irritated; they are all about rough-and-tumble puppy play, however. They are alert as mature dogs and may tell you of a stranger’s approach, but XANADU pups are NOT guard dogs. With more-or-less success, they are bred for reduced barkiness (another work in progress). Your neighbors will appreciate this characteristic.

CONFIRMATION - (or sometimes I say, "grace" or how XANADU dogs move) and GENETIC SOUNDNESS--Parent dogs are the best examples of their breeds that can be found (genetic test results, [often] Championship parentage / ancestry, etc.). Future parent dogs that I have purchased as pups for my Guardian Home program are expensive. I SEARCHED FOR A LONG TIME to find these individuals—sometimes for years. XANADU puppies’ parents have had / are they will undergo (expensive) breed-specific genetic testing for breed-specific disorders—dysplasia, blindness, deafness, heart problems, skin and coat problems, canine collapse disorder, etc., etc. All outside network breeders' stud dogs are “clear” of such genetically-transferable issues. Females that will have one litter for XANADU are “cleared” of genetically-transferable problems by lineage genetic tests, by information from breeders and/or by parental/ancestral genetic testing (info. stored in registries). Females who will have more litters for XANADU will be tested for all breed-specific problem-possibilities. Hip dysplasia is one good example: Canine hips are classified by OFA as either “good” or “excellent,” by PennHip testing in percentages, and few rare dogs are recognized to have very long-lineage excellence, e.g., the Saluki breed, who has the best hips in dog-dom).XANADU will not breed a dog with “Fair” hip scores. We prefer PennHip testing to OFA. PennHip ratings are shown as percentages, like a founding International Champion moyen Poodle in XANADU puppies’ lineages who has a 100% PennHip Rating or American Golden Retriever, Bluegrass Dancer—sire of Eve and Zoe’—who has a 90% PennHip rating. Bluegrass Dancer also has OFA “excellent” hips, as do foundation dogs: Alice, Blue Sky, Lulwah, Myrrh, Rumi Wyldfyr, Uno, Max/Bluegrass Dancer, and other representatives of XANADU lineages. These dogs have between 90 and 100% hips.

EXPECTED LIFE SPAN - XANADU litters have also been bred for longevity—and for long lives with good health. If your puppy does NOT carry “extra” longevity qualities, we will let you know, so you can expect your dog to have the normal, healthy life span you would expect of your hybrid. While these details are noted in descriptions of the breeds of XANADU parent and lineage dogs, if you have in-depth questions about the expected lifespan of your puppy, please call me, and I’ll make an educated guess. It is our hope that the puppy you purchase for your little children will live for their entire childhoods, perhaps until they leave home to begin independent lives at a new job or continued education at a university, etc. As the owner of a XANADU pup, it would be helpful if you let us know in the many years to come when your elder dog dies and the cause of death.

INTELLIGENCE, TRAINABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY -- Increasingly, XANADU works toward standard and advanced obedience performance and therapy-dog temperament and characteristics, so your dog will be an even better best friend and a good neighbor. We breed dogs for companionability and cooperation and for wanting to know what you want him / her to do. Most purchasers write that their pup is the "world's smartest dog." One lady wrote, "No dog has a right to be this smart!" (See our Testimonials.) While traditional service dog breeds, like Retrievers or Poodles, are highly intelligent, you can expect MORE from your XANADU dog. Your XANADU dog may be noticeably more alert, more aware, more savvy about his/her environment, more conscious, more curious, more responsible for you or your family, etc.; most XANADU owners describe their dogs as the “smartest dog I’ve ever seen!” They may or may not be the best service candidates.

There is another odd quality that we find in some XANADU dogs: These unusual dogs seem to be able to read minds; I suppose they are just that attentive, bonded, and loving. Still, this is a frequent characteristic of the XANADU dog--and one we try to capture in successive litters of hyper-attentive, phychic pups.

COAT -- Doodles are beautiful; we prefer waves and curls, soft coats, medium coats, parti-colors of gold-and-white and red-and-white, silver blue phantoms, tri-colors, coat-pattern symmetry, low-shed and no bad doggie odor. Sometimes a XANADU pup will resemble a parent or grandparent that does shed—Golden Retriever look-alikes in Goldendoodle F1 litters are one example. If no-to-low shed is important to you (especially for allergy reasons), please note the description of the litter or the puppy you want. If you or your family member(s) have allergies, please talk with your doctor before selecting any puppy—even a purebred hypoallergenic Poodle pup.

SIZE — We have smaller and larger lines of XANADU dogs, but soon we will increasingly aim for pups that will mature between 35 and 50 pounds, Standard-sized Bernedoodles, Golden Retrievers, Goldendoodles, Goberians, some Pomskies, and others are a current exception, as are Maltipoo crosses)—We prefer dogs that are not so small that they are at great risk of accident (rough-housing / child play, for example, or just jumping off a couch or bed) or that could be a target for predators; we also prefer a size that is not so large that they are difficult to keep as house dogs--or impossible for most pet owners to carry, if necessary. Ultimately, a 35-50 pound adult dog is our world’s-best-dog goal.

DESIGNER DOODLE OR VANITY CHARACTERISTICS—blue eyes, green eyes, as well as warm brown and gold eyes, “eyeliner” markings, symmetry in markings, black noses and footpads, a soft Egyptian-cotton coat quality, non-barkiness, gracefulness, homing ability, what we have noticed as a "party tail" that looks like a big pom-pom, etc. Chase, Ashoka, Chinook, Rio Vida and Can-Can have great "party tails."Some lineages seem to have a strong homing ability. We never know until we have a lost-dog crisis, but these XANADU dog owners have exciting and wonderful stories to tell—and these owners are embarrassed to tell these scary lost-dog stories. Who would want to tell me their dogs have had an owner-frightening lost-dog experience and that their dog traveled miles over unknown territory to come home?

Your XANADU pup will be examined by a veterinarian before pick-up and s/he will be wormed. XANADU puppies are guaranteed for temperament, genetic soundness, and total health. You are guaranteed to love your puppy and your pup is guaranteed to love you in return.

XANADU helps support several organizations that help dogs, wildlife and our environment, and children worldwide.